The Foundation and Tintefish to expand football activities at social sports schools in Bhutan
This season, the Phudup Goenpason monastery has got involved and the project is now benefitting over 60 students.
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For yet another season, the ball is rolling at the Real Madrid Foundation's social sports schools in Bhutan, in collaboration with Tintefish. This unique project is being run in the town of Gangtey Village in the Phobjikha Valley, situated at an altitude of over 3,000 metres. In one of the country's most isolated rural areas, it seeks to promote the comprehensive development of young monks living at the Gangtey Monastery, providing them with an alternative, healthy leisure option through football.
This season, the new Phudup Goenpa monastery, located in the Dogar Gewog district, has joined the program, expanding it to benefit more than 60 students aged between 6 and 17 years old.
The project has come to fruition following the groundwork put in by Tintefish to gain the trust of these monastery communities, which have traditionally been reluctant to get involved with outside initiatives. Getting the monasteries to incorporate sports into their daily routines has been an unprecedented cultural challenge, but the combined commitment of Tintefish and the Real Madrid Foundation has helped make it a reality.
The beneficiaries are the youngest members of the monasteries, mainly coming from low-resource families. Now, they have an opportunity for education, accommodation and nutrition. Through the social sports schools, the Foundation and Tintefish promote the right to play and foster the personal development of young monks, alongside the United Nations actions in the country.
Tintefish have been working in Bhutan for more than six years, in conjunction with the Gangteng Goenpa Buddhist Monastery. In 2019, they started the Monks Tintefish initiative, focused on monks attending university, before setting up a similar program for under-17s in 2021, which is when the Real Madrid Foundation got involved. The new base has joined the project thanks to the initiative of a founding member of the Monks Tintefish first team, a former assistant coach who trained with the Real Madrid Foundation.